Textile printing paste and fabric



Patented Feb. 12, 1946 TEXTILE PRINTING PASTE AND FABRIC David M. Gans, New York, N. Y., assignor to mterchemical Corporation, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of Ohio No Drawing.- Application April 23, 1941 Serial No. 389,933

2 Claims. (01. sec-32) This invention relates to textile printing, and has particular reference to new and novel compositions for printing colored designs on textiles, and to the improved textiles obtained thereby. More particularly, it contemplates the printing of textiles with printing pastes containing synthetic rubbers of the polychloroprene type.

The conventional method of coloring textiles is to dye them in the piece, or to print dyes in various designs on the textiles. The dye printing of textiles is an expensive operation, and often open to serious objections due to the failure of many dyes to resist light, washing, dry cleaning and other incidents of normal use. Furthermore, fine designs reproduce poorly, due to the tendency of the dye pastes to spread.

It has been proposed to print textile by the use of pigmented compositions, formed by dispersing pigment in a variety of binders, app ying the compositions in a manner similar to the printing of paper, directly to the untreated'fabric. This method of textile decorating has obvious advantages over the dye printing method, since it eliminates the treatment of the fabric before and after printing, necessary in dye printing, permits the use of the cheaper, more light-resistant covering pigments, and gives finer prints. It also permits the use of fabrics which have slight defects, since the pigment tends to hide the defects.

- Although the use of pigmented marking compositions possesses very great advantages over the conventional dye printing methods, the methad has had but little application, due primarily to other objectionable qualities of the pigmented coating compositions.

A principal objection to these pigmented compositions is the development of what is known in the trade jargon as handa certain objectionable stifl feel of the cloth in'handling, as compared with the smooth' feel of the unprinted cloth. This is due only slightly to the thickness of the coating on the individual yarn: it is probably due primarily to the bridging of the film from one yarn of the fabric to the next, whereby agglomerates of yarns are formed which give the impression on handling that the fabric is woven from coarse thread. It is therefore essential that the composition yield a discontinuous film which does not bridge the yarns of the fabric unduly.

A second principal objection is the phenomenon known as cracking, which i the tendency of the printed fabric to yield color to another fabric, or to the hand, when rubbed against it. While this phenomenon is observable with many The combination of all of these properties in a single vehicle is obviously difficult of attainment. Extensibility and flexibility are limited by thermoplasticity and a tendency to stick while ironing; a great many desirable film-forming ingredients may not be used because they do not withstand soap or dry cleaning solvents; and most flexible films, which are also strong enough to wear well, have their usefulness impaired by the hand they impart to the fabrics. The problem is further complicated by the fact that filmforming binders often act entirely differently in the discontinuous films desirable in textile printing, as compared to the continuous films obtained in the ordinary printing, marking and coating of paper, textiles, wood and non-porous materials.

' The fabrics produced by this method of textile printing differ markedly from fabrics coated with I the same compositions. The coated fabrics are waterproof; these fabrics are completely porous and readily launderable, like dye-printed textiles, since the pigment i bound to the fabric by completely discontinuous films of binder, which permits the passage of water through the entire fabric. It is this complete absence of a continuous film which repels water, which makes the problem so diflicult. Rubber and rubber substitutes have been considered in the past as binder for textile marking compositions, but have never come into extensive use because of certain inherent disadvantages. Ordinary rubber is far too viscous to give printing pastes of desirable printing properties; 1

when it is depolymerized by milling or by heat, the resultant product produces film which tend to remain tacky, even after vulcanization. Unvulcanized rubber istoo soluble in dry cleaning solvents to be of great usefulness.

I have discovered that polychloroprene may be used advantageously as a vehicle in the pigment printing of fabrics, giving soft. wash-resistant prints which stand up well on the fabric. The

polychloroprene is made up into a solution in a volatile organic solvent, and pigment is dispersed therein.

Typical examples or my invention are the fol? lowing:

Example 1 Neoprene E (chloroprene polymer.. 20.0 Magnesia 2.0 Heliogen Green G (chlorinated copper phthalocyanine green) Di-beta-naphthyl-para-phenylene diamine 0.2 Zinc oxide 2.0 Xylene 12.8

This material may be printed on iabric from an intaglio roller, and dried. It yields asoft print of rather low color strength, which is highly resistant to washing, and is yet washable.

By preference, water is emulsified into the polychloroprene solution, in order to get better color strength and' sharpness of print. At least about 20% of water is necessary toproduce the desired effect, while 50-60% is preferred; higher amounts 1 may be used consonant with the production of emulsions of satisfactory printing body. Such a water-in-lacquer emulsion can be made as follows:

. Example 2 Parts Neoprene E (chloroprene polymer) 10.0 Magnesia 1.0 Zinc oxide 1.0

Solvesso #2 (hydrogenated petroleum sol- .vent) 51.0

Parts Indanthrene (Blue GGSL double paste (15.4% color) 13.0 Water 24.0 I

1. A texftile printing compositioncomprising an emulsion having an inner aqueous phase comprising at least 20% of the emulsion, and an outer organic phase comprising pigment dispersed in a solution of polvchloroprene in a volatile. organic solvent, said composition yielding soft wash-fast prints.

2. In the combination of a textile fabric-with a pigmented decoration bonded to the fabric by means of a binder in such a disccntinuousfashion that the fabric is readily launderable, the improvement which comprises the use of polychloroprene as the essential binder for the pigment,

' whereby soft wash-fast prints are obtained.

DAVID M. GANS.

In particular, the 

